Brothers
by theb3arjew
Summary: Two weeks before the Uchiha Massacre, the innocent, kind act of a young, lonely boy changes the future of the Elemental Nations.
Kids like having fun. That's just a fact of life. Most kids have fun with their friends, adventuring and playing ridiculous games under the everlasting afternoon sun. Some kids have fun with their family. Some enjoy spending some quality time with their action figures and other toys. (and not in _that_ way, you dirty bastards)

Naruto, however, didn't have fun doing any of those things, mostly because he couldn't. Naruto didn't have friends, or a family, or any toys. No, his fun had to come from a different source entirely.

He had to work a little harder for it, and it certainly didn't put him on anybody's good side, but as the young boy took a moment to watch his hard work pay off, he couldn't have fought the grin off his face, even if he'd wanted to.

Pranks were fucking awesome when they worked. And Naruto was really good at making them work.

Sure, the grin wavered a bit as the inevitable chase took him past the park, where his academy classmates were playing games before their onlooking parents, but all was forgotten as soon as the angry calls of his name got closer and closer. See, that was one of the best things about pranking It never game him idle time to think.

Thinking led to logic, and logic said that his life sucked. Logic said that it wasn't fair that he couldn't have friends or a family, or that he had to live alone. Logic made him angry.

So yeah, pranking was good.

* * *

Sasuke Uchiha was tired of being a disappointment.

Other people thought that this would be ridiculous. To them, Sasuke was a genius, a potential prodigy of the Uchiha clan. He was in his first year of the academy, and he was already at the top of his class. How could the kid be considered a disappointment?

If Sasuke had ever cared enough to counter the argument, he would've done it with one word.

Itachi.

Yeah, Sasuke was at the top of his class, but Itachi had _graduated_ in his first year. Itachi had mastered the fireball jutsu on his first try. Sasuke, as he had just shown, had not.

So, as his father shook his head and left the pier, Sasuke found that there were tears welling in the corners of his eyes.

It just wasn't fair.

Why was Itachi so good? What made him that much better? Their father had always made it seem like Itachi was born lucky, and Sasuke was lucky to be born.

But Sasuke didn't need luck. He didn't want it. E would fight to become strong, and in doing so, he would become even more powerful than his brother.

This wasn't a new resolution. He'd realized this fact a while ago. So why was he so distraught now?

In the end, Sasuke was a kid, a very young one. And any kid, Uchiha genius or now, would get confused by such conflicting feelings. Part of him wanted to hate his older brother, to resent and detest and get angry. But part of him, well, part of him loved him older brother. Itachi was kid, strong, smart, and everything one could ever want in an older brother.

And it was this confusion that put him over the edge. For the first time in years, Sasuke Uchiha cried.

Naruto, meanwhile, didn't know any of this. He just knew that he was currently watching the annoyingly cool Sasuke Uchiha bawl his little eyes out.

He had just evaded the last of his post-prank pursuers. Naruto generally liked to close out the chases in the training grounds spread throughout Konoha. It was almost always the perfect escape strategy. Civilians weren't allowed there, but nobody would blink twice if an academy student ended up at the wrong training field.

Today, the Uchiha training lake had simply been the most convenient.

Anyway, back to the situation at hand. What was Naruto gonna do? His first instinct was to go and tease the boy for crying, just like so many others had done to him. He began to make his approach, but something stopped him.

Sasuke was alone. No friends or family in sight. Right then and there, he was just like Naruto. Actually, now that he thought about it, Sasuke didn't seem to really have any friends, period. Yeah, he had his parents and his brother, but they always seemed like they were more focused on the clan.

Naruto thought back to all of the crap that old man Hokage always told him about treating others the way he wanted to be treated. If it had been him crying, well, it had been him. He'd been in similar boats before. And, more than anything, he'd wished that somebody would've come and distracted him for a bit, just to get his mind of the sad shit for a little while.

So Naruto resumed his approach with the beginnings of a new plan in mind. A plan in which he completely ignored when he called out a greeting.

"Hey Sasuke!"

The crying boy froze, embarrassed that he had just been caught crying by somebody who sounded like a fellow kid. He slowly turned around, embarrassment turning into anger as he realized just who had caught him.

"Go away, dobe! I'm not in the mood for any of your crap right now."

Naruto fought off the urge to punch the bastard in the face.

"I just wanted to see if… I wanted… you wanna spar a little?"

The made Sasuke even more angry.

"I'm not some sad clanless nothing. I'm an Uchiha! I don't want any pity, especially yours, dead-last!"

Now it was Naruto's turn to get angry.

"You think I pity you?" Naruto chucked darkly. "It seems like everyone in this damn village wishes I was dead, and I don't pity myself. Why the fuck would I pity you?" Naruto realized that he was practically yelling now, and he paused for a moment in an attempt to collect himself. "I got my issues and you got yours. You certainly don't pity me, and I sure as hell don't pity you. Now you can either sit there and keep crying about whatever, or you could come over here so we can beat the shit out of each other for a little while."

Sasuke thought about what Naruto had just said. He had always been annoyed by the blond brat, but Naruto wasn't any worse than that prick with the dog and that kid seemed to have friends. What Naruto had just said, well, it sounded good to him. He needed something else to think about anyway.

So, Sasuke smirked, matched Naruto's sparring seal, and rushed over to begin his attack.

* * *

Itachi had first gone to check in on his brother when he saw their father walking through the Uchiha compound without Sasuke in tow. He'd arrived just in time to see his little brother's discussion with the Uzumaki kid, and he couldn't have been happier.

Sasuke, well, he'd never been the friend making type, and this, this was progress. Sure, the comparisons between Shisui and Naruto were few and far between, but everybody needed a friend.

Of course, Itachi would never mention this in front of either Sasuke or Naruto. They would both deny it and probably go back to hating each other tomorrow. This situation needed to be handled… delicately.

He'd repeatedly gone back and checked in on the duo throughout the afternoon, and it was now starting to get dark. Their spar had evolved into some violent iteration of substitution tag, and both kids were doing their best to hide their rather obvious exhaustion. Itachi's stomach rumbled, and an idea came to mind. He walked over to the dueling pair, and for the first time all afternoon, they took notice of him.

"Hey little brother, Mother wants you home for dinner."

Sasuke nodded and looked back over at Naruto, who had fallen into what he'd called 'Starfish Formation'. Basically, he was lying on his back.

"Good fight, dobe."

Naruto stuck his arm straight up and gave Sasuke a thumbs up.

"Same to you, teme."

Itachi shook his head at their rather… unique nicknames. Oh well, time to put the plan into action.

"Naruto, is it? Why don't you come over for dinner? Mother is making pork ramen."

Everybody in the village knew two things about Naruto. He wanted to become Hokage, and he loved ramen way too much.

Naruto shot up off the ground and eagerly accepted, not quite processing what had just happened. He heard ramen, so his brain pretty much shut down.

Sasuke just shrugged and began walking home. Huh, Itachi had expected some protest.

Either way, he had to catch up with Sasuke, so he sent Naruto off to get changed and cleaned up and chased after his little brother.

* * *

 _(Twenty Minutes Later, in Naruto's Apartment)_

'Balls. I'm eating dinner with a family. An Uchiha family. What the hell am I supposed to do?'

Yeah, Naruto was in a bit of a panic. Sure, he knew that people had guests over for dinner sometimes. But he had never been one of those guests. Was he supposed to bring a gift? Did he have to make a dish or something. Stupid ramen. Always distracting him and shit.

* * *

 **(AN)** Had this idea a couple of weeks ago and I finally got around to building on it. This should be a fun little Naruto AU. Hope you guys enjoyed, and be sure to let me know what you think!

-TBJ


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